Nice! My stairs did too.

Find your flow. That bakery routine clearly sparked a useful change for the original poster. But the recent comments make a good point about personal rhythms. The trick is to take the idea without copying it exactly if it doesn't fit you. If waking up early helps, great, but if not, find when you work best. It's all about making small tweaks that really improve your day, not just following trends.

Which tools actually work best?

Actually that's not really an accident, it's a known way some people use journals on purpose. The difference is writing down problems with possible fixes, not just feelings. Like if someone writes "my job is awful" every day, that sticks. But writing "my job is awful because of X, so I could try Y" changes the loop. Some methods teach this exact switch from venting to fixing.